E. Ortiz-Prado, E. Terán, Raul Patricio Fernandez Naranjo, Doménica Cevallos-Robalino, Eduardo Vasconez, A. Lister
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ecuador was unprepared for the overwhelming number of COVID-19 cases. As the general population started to see the eff ects of the pandemic, unproven treatments and medications were sought by the population to try to ameliorate the impact of the pandemic. The growing demand for a cure, the fear of dying from COVID-19, and the lack of therapeutic rigour, pushed a signifi cant number of people to seek help outside the traditional healthcare system. Doctors, pharmacists, and patients started prescribing or selfmedicating pharmacological products that were later shown to be ineff ective, toxic or even contraindicated. In Ecuador, most people who developed the severe acute respiratory syndrome associated with infection by the coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, which causes COVID-19, used antibiotics (azithromycin), antiparasitic medications (hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin), dangerous chemical products (chlorine dioxide) and in some cases, biological medicines, to try to cure or protect themselves from COVID-19. The growing demand for therapies that were unavailable, as well as the rise in misinformation, created the perfect scenario for the misuse of medicines and enabled the appearance of a rampant black market of unregistered biological products. In this manuscript, we describe the Ecuadorian experience in relation to the off -label use of biological and biosimilar products during the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of the pharmaceutical black market, and the lack of national regulations to avoid dangerous practices. To the best of our knowledge this is the fi rst report that has aimed to describe the unapproved and even illegal sale and use of biologicals, biosimilars and related products, with or without approved therapeutic indications in the treatment of COVID-19.
期刊介绍:
The scope of GaBI Journal is broad and of interest and relevance to professionals active in clinical practice, pharmaceutical science and policy. Materials published in GaBI Journal include high quality research reports, literature reviews and case studies, all of which are peer reviewed. Manuscripts on all aspects of generic and biosimilar medicines, covering areas in clinical, fundamental, technical, manufacturing, bi-processing, economic and social aspects of pharmaceuticals and therapeutics are welcome. In addition, high quality work submitted in other formats, for example, scientific and evidence-based commentaries, may also be considered. In all cases, the emphasis is on quality, originality and knowledge contribution to those involved in health care. All manuscripts submitted to GaBI Journal are subject to a rigorous peer review process. GaBI Journal plans to be indexed in PubMed within two years, and that indexing will be retrospective. GaBI Journal is published quarterly from 2012. All articles are published in English.